YouTube Charts Crown Latin Artists As Kings Of Summer 2017 Pop Sounds

As if the recent U.S. chart successes of songs like Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee's "Despacito" and J Balvin & Willy William's "Mi Gente" weren't enough of an indication, YouTube's top 25 Song Of The Summer charts have overwhelmingly confirmed that Latin artists were the undisputed kings of the global pop sound of summer 2017.

The 'Songs Of The Summer' charts were compiled from songs released in the past year, and ranked by number of views gained both globally and in the U.S. between Memorial Day and Labor Day 2017 to determine which songs reign supreme over the metaphorical internet airwaves.

Despite musical entries from every corner of the globe, the international chart was dominated by Latin sounds, grabbing a whopping 16 of the 25 spots with artists like Shakira, Daddy Yankee, Maluma, and of course Luis Fonis. Puerto Rican trap and reggaeton singer Ozuna also grabbed four of the top global video slots on his own.

Check out the full listings of the top 25 Songs Of The Summer global and U.S. charts as originally shared over at Billboard.

Nielsen Music's Q3 2017 report has some excellent news for the ever-growing music streaming market: a 40.5 percent-plus jump in music consumption from the same time in 2016.

Billboard reports that the first three quarters of 2016 saw approximately 315 billion on-demand streams, a metric nearly surpassed in 2017 by just the end of Q2. The 40.5 percent increase in streams is likewise up from the 36.4 percent growth rate clocked by Nielsen just three months ago, proving that the market still has plenty of growth headroom.

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito," this year's most-streamed track so far, has already pulled in 1.11 billion streams. That's almost twice what Desiigner's "Panda" had achieved by the end of Q3 last year. Furthermore, another six tracks have also surpassed the 674.4 million streams that Desiigner's "Panda" had by this time last year.

On the album side, Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. currently leads the charge with 2.35 million consumption units, with Ed Sheeran and Drake's 2017 offerings coming in second and third at 2.13 million and 2 million, respectively.

Both physical album sales and single track downloads showed continued declines, while vinyl album sales notched a slight 3.1 percent increase. The best-selling vinyl album of the year so far? The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which isn't totally surprising, given its recent 50th-anniversary special-edition reissue.

'American Dream' Grab No. 1 Chart Spot For LCD Soundsystem

The seven years since GRAMMY-nominated dance-punk outfit LCD Soundsystem released their critically acclaimed third album This Is Happening saw a variety of notable moments in the members' lives.

The band separated for five years, some members continued to work with side projects and another bands — namely Hot Chip and the Juan Maclean — and frontman James Murphy went on a crusade to convince the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority to change their subway turnstile sounds to a series of melodic bleep-bloop tones.

When the group came back together in 2016, there was some uncertainty as to what would happen next. It seemed like the band had departed at the top of the heap for their scene and what they'd ostensibly been trying to accomplish.

"We're not the Rolling Stones," Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter back in 2012. "We didn't start when we were teenagers. We started when we were older. People had kids."

So when they did come back, Murphy made it clear to his fans in a well-publicized blog post that he was well aware, "It needs to be better than anything we’ve done before."

LCD Soundsystem's fourth LP American Dream was released on Sept. 1, and just this past week has officially become the band's first album to ever reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. (This Is Happening held the band's previous highest chart seat at No. 10.)

The chart rank was gained almost completely by way of physical album sales, helped along in part by the band's decision to take advantage of an increasingly common practice of bundling physical copies of the CD along with all tickets sold on their current U.S. and European 2017 tour.

Arcade Fire, the Chainsmokers and Katy Perry have employed similar strategies with their 2017 releases, with each artist or group likewise grabbing the No. 1 slot in their opening sales weeks.

Listen To Luis Fonsi, Demi Lovato’s New English Version Of “Échame La Culpa"

Since dropping last November, Luis Fonsiand Demi Lovato’s catchy collaboration “Échame La Culpa” has followed smartly in the footsteps of Fonsi’s previous worldwide smash hit “Despacito.” Riding that wave of popularity, “Échame La Culpa” has amassed nearly one billion YouTube and VEVO views of its own, and hit No. 1 on the iTunes charts in almost 60 countries. To celebrate the song’s success, Fonsi and Lovato have now released an English language version of the bubbly Reggaeton track, translated as “Not On You.”

The success of “Échame La Culpa” last December also helped Fonsi become just the third Latin artist in chart history to have two tracks ranking simultaneously in the Top 50 of the Hot 100 according to Billboard.

For her own part, Lovato has just set off on a brand-new tour withDJ Khaled, a production which she says she hopes will show fans who she is “as a person” while also taking advantage of the large-scale venue formats of the arenas she will be playing. The tour will support her latest LP Tell Me You Love Me, which she released this past July.

Select students from the GRAMMY Camp—Jazz Session program will gather at the John L. Tishman Auditorium in New York City during GRAMMY Week to participate in the ninth annual "GRAMMY In The Schools Live!" performance and alumni reception.

Special guest and past GRAMMY Camp — Jazz Session participant Jon Batiste will join the student band during the performance. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Batiste is the current musical director for "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

Additional guests of honor will include Pamela Alexander, director of community development for Ford Motor Company Fund, which provides funding and support for the GRAMMY Camp program, Recording Academy President/CEO and Board Chair of the GRAMMY Museum Neil Portnow, as well as the recipient of the Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Museum's fifth annual Music Educator Award.

GRAMMY Camp is one of several flagship music education programs the comprise the GRAMMY Museum's GRAMMY in the Schools initiative, alongside GRAMMY Signature Schools and the Jane Ortner Education Award. GRAMMY Camp offers selected high school students an interactive nonresidential summer music experience focusing on all aspects of commercial music.

High school instrumentalists can audition for the GRAMMY Camp—Jazz Session, and selectees will travel to the host city for the annual GRAMMY Awards, and participate in high-profile GRAMMY Week performances, recording sessions and attend the GRAMMY telecast.

"GRAMMY In The Schools Live!" will take place on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, at 6:30 p.m. General admission tickets are on sale now.

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